That One Random Day When
by Weiss Phospholite
Summary: ...Ratchet found himself seeking counsel with an unusual group of people, nearly kidnapped and smacked right side the face. With a bunch of other things. Not necessarily in that order. "Well, ya know what they be sayin': Necessity is the mother of invasion!" "That...sort of makes sense." Obsidian Mind-verse
1. The Heck am I? a psychologist?

_**-**_ **:-That One Random Day When... -:-**

 **Chapter 1**

 **The heck am I? A psychologist?**

* * *

 _ **Where an unwanted visitor shows up and Ratchet finds himself helping out.**_

* * *

 **Planet Veldin, Kyzil Plateau**

 **The Garage, 4:30pm**

It was, for the most part, a pretty average Saturday afternoon. My boss Grimroth Razz was busy taking care of the shop and working on a job, and being that it was probably around four something, Clank went off on his daily trip down to the only local Mart Kyzil Plateau had to offer to stock up on some foodstuffs and whatever household supplies we currently needed. As for me, the afternoon found me lying down on the ratty old couch in the garage section's small living room, being slowly lulled to sleep by the minor hums, smell of the ship's fuel in the air (from the few times it been turned on and exposed to find out certain problems) and bustle of feet scampering around, picking up tools and such.

It was such a nice melody, I almost closed my eyes until the tips of my ears suddenly perked up. A new foreign sound had entered the fray, along with it a change in temperature and stuffiness that creeped along my back that I felt a tingling sensation growing. Snapping back into awareness, I zeroed in on the acoustics the room had and heard even more faint little noises, like something hitting plastic inside something soft.

Like a rattle of a familiar bag of little beads strapped to a pouch...

"Kalvin!" I whispered angrily to the room around me. "You do know that Grim banned you from ever stepping foot at our place, right? I'm pretty sure that also included sneaking in here as well!"

At the sound of my voice, the presence I had felt lingering silently behind my couch let out a small (but clearly muffled) gasp of surprise, falling promptly on the floor with a loud thump. I laughed, but luckily the noise was overshadowed by several cranking noises coming from out in the main area of the garage. I was right on the mark with who it was and the outcome was hilarious.

Thanks, awesome Lombax hearing.

"It was just an accident! I swear, I only wanted to use what I learned from ya to make somethin' cool for my void snare!"

Some shuffling of getting up followed Kalvin's harsh whisper as I eased myself into a sitting position.. "It needed some extra juice! How's I s'pose to know that I've gotten everythin' set up wrong and it'd decided to go explodin' on me like that?"

I frowned. "Well then... hasn't it crossed your mind at one point that you were still a beginner when you decided to try it out?"

There was a slight pause. "...Yes," came the response behind me, faint and hesitant-laced. "I _may_ have thought 'bout it at that one point you be mentionin'..."

 _Sigh..._

"And still you said ' to hell with it', and nearly died causing the explosion heard around the plateau." I finished off his sentence half yawning, half whispering back-kinda sounded like a moan, now that I think about it. "And not only did you wake up half the neighbours at four thirty, but you woke us up, too. Only three hours of REM sleep, I tell you, three! And I happen to start my workday here everyday at six in the morning."

"What workday? Ya don' nothin' all day!"

"Yes...apparently I don't at the moment..." I said in a lowered voice.

"If it makes ya feel any better," _furball_ , my ears caught the unheard lowered word at the end as Kalvin's footsteps made their way towards me. "I don't have a place to crash no more."

"No." I deadpanned. "Oh no no no, my ever-growing morality since Clank doesn't allow me enjoy your personal misfortune."

No sooner had I finished my sentence that I came face to face with a black haired male Markazian -wearing a small brown utility belt over a dark blue vest with a too long dirty turquoise shirt, olive green baggy pocket filled pants and black hiking boots- dumping his worn khaki coloured satchel on a nearby crate full of plasma coils. Right on them, as a matter of fact. He didn't even seem to care that the box was open, and my ears twitched as a faint sound of cracks coming from inside was picked up over the hammering and other noises heard one wall-with-a-window between the small living room and the actual workplace.

I looked at the crate a little more and just sighed. Those were fragile...

"Can't say that wasn't some pretty awesome explodin' that went on, eh, Ratchet, my good buddeh?" Kalvin said with a giggle, and I scooted off a section of the couch to let him sit down when he came back over. "All them pieces were flyin' and all that and, oh oh!-I think I 'member seein' my tub flyin' towards one of them chasms. Prolly hit one of them Skrees good on the way down, eh?"

I didn't know exactly what the joke was in there, but Kalvin seemed to crack up once he repeated this to himself a few more times. Probably something of an inside joke to him, I don't know. Wasn't going to ask in favour of speeding this little meeting along. Grim wasn't only just upset with Kalvin, after all -but to the person, this case the Lombax who was teaching him the trade.

"Uh-huh... so can we get to the point of your visit?" I asked, a little too quickly. "I'm pretty sure it wasn't to say hello, or you'd have done it by now, huh?"

He gave me a look.

"What?"

"...That was my point, Ratchet."

Now it was my turn to give him a look, one of confusion.

Kalvin nodded slowly, kicked his feet up onto the makeshift table (I panicked, how the hell was there was MUD on the soles of his boots, none less DRIED?) and leaned back into the couch cushions, the grin on his face as he brought up the memories faltered before being replaced with a sad and dejected look.

"Didn't think 'Roth decidin' on throwin' the ban-hammer on me to come to your place would get to me, but" he exhaled lightly. "It did. And it was just 'cuz of one teenie weenie little accident, and I was still learnin' all them ropes and other mechanic stuff."

I frowned. I found it funny how his term of "little accident" included an explosion that rocked the ground. "Didn't peg you to be the caring type, Centauri. You and Grim didn't exactly rub each other the right way first meeting, especially when you made off with one of our two spare 340 ionic amplifiers that belonged to our expensive magnetic stabiliser two days ago. Which, by the way, then became a plus two causality."

Kalvin frowned. "Plus two? What was the plus one, then?"

"The Skreeduck. You stole its life, too, along with the amp."

"Ah." At the mention of the deed, the Markazian rubbed the back of his neck, looking abashed. "It's not stealin', exactly," he said sheepishly. "More like... borrowin' it."

"Borrowing."

"Yea, yea, Borrowin'." He nodded his head as he spoke. "Ya were gon' get it back when I was done, good as new."

"Riiight." I was completely incredulous. "Good as new in your terms means banged up with scratches and or something missing- like the last time you took my toolbox, which by the way, you 'lost' one of my mini screwdrivers, _again_."

"Yea, exactly like that."

I raised an eyebrow. It took a minute for him to quickly backtrack his statement when he actually thought about how it came out.

"Look, Ratchet. It wasn't s'pose to explode in the end. I just wanted to show ya both I learned somethin' well from ya, instead of lookin' like a big idiot whenev'r ya go on 'bout them leverage and systems maint'nance and whatnot."

"Still didn't mean having to steal a part for whatever the hell you were making," I said. "That's why you go and ask for something. You never resort to stealing a piece that is expensive."

Kalvin crossed his hands. "But I needed the part an' he would've said no if I asked. Ya told me youself that he don't really like me. Just because of who I used to be. Now why'd ol' Razzy be givin' me anythin'?"

Good point...

"But at least then you'd be allowed here still." I pointed out. "And maybe we could've done what you were planning to do here, with supervision -which, by the way, what were you making, anyway?- and you'd still have your shack to go back to. Haven't you given a good thought about that at least before scaring us half to death?"

Kalvin's smile drooped slightly. "...Maybe...," he said. "It was s'pose to be a jailbreak energy conductor add-on I saw those people do on the HV to break the limiters on my snare..."

"Right."

As I bent over to grab my now lukewarm glass of iced tea, I watched Kalvin scrunch up his face in thought for a minute or two before eventually shaking his head in negative. "If it just didn't go boom," the Markazian said slowly before swiping my drink and tossing it back like some kind of alcoholic beverage. He grimaced slightly, probably the aftertaste. "It was s'pose to be a cool surprise."

"And what a surprise it was, Kalvin, " I couldnt help but to be sarcastic. "It was so surprising, you're banned from here until the boss man says so." I swiped back the glass from his hands before he had a chance to toss it over the floor and placed it back on the table. As much as my throat protested at the loss of the beverage, I decided to wait for a refill later. "And also, I've been told to never teach you again. Even secretly, damned if I knew how he found that out. So consider it a major success."

Kalvin just pouted at my sarcasm. "Well, it's not like I've gone and stole the galactic bank! He be blowin' things out of control for just one little thing!"

"It's 'Out of proportion'," I corrected. "And seriously? I'm the worst person you could try gaining some sympathy from. You do realise that you're talking to a well known hero whose job description condones stealing with a fist to the face and a one way trip to the nearest prison facility, right?"

"Yea, but come on, buddy!" he whined again. "It was just one li'l amplifier! Did he have to make it a big deal?"

"Yea he did. That 'one li'l amplifier' came from the mag stabiliser I bought for him as a gift!" Never mind that the gift was secretly for me as well, I added in thought. That's where most of my anger about this came from. But hell no was I going to say that aloud with the subject of the problem next door.

"But ya had another spare! It wasn't such a biggie, I don't get the deal."

I tutted under my breath. I felt him watching as I shook my head, got up to stretch my legs and calm myself down before he became a victim of a murder. He just wasn't getting the point of all this, and it was really pissing me off. "It doesn't change the fact that both were part of his present, And those things short out easily after a while, good for another three years -I explained this to you when you asked the first few times you popped by."

He wrinkled his nose. "And? Like I keep sayin', he had a spare."

"Son of a..." I exhaled loud in fustration, tail swishing back a little too pointed. I couldn't hold myself and ranted. "They're expensive to buy in packs. All three, thats enough to last about nine years before we have to to go and buy new ones. NINE YEARS." The last part was emphasised with nine fingers held up in front of his face. "But sadly," I folded my hands again, "our original that's been in use for two years happened to crap out on us four weeks ago while I was at the hospital and so had been replaced, leaving us with just one more...which you then decided to kill with fire, leaving us with nothing!"

"Didn't you have three spares?"

"No we didn't. We never had three to begin with!"

"Oooh..."

"..."

"..."

"Well, darn." the Markazian narrowed his eyes and frowned. "But at least ya both had another handy. Still not a big deal."

"I just said they're..."

I gaped slightly, mouth closing and opening but no words coming out. Then I closed my eyes, walked over to the wall beside the window and leaned my forehead against it. For a good two minutes, since I was deciding on whether the wall would even withstand the amount of force that I wanted to bash my head with. Then I let a deep breath out and I turned my attention back to the conversation at hand.

Kalvin had remained silent throughout the whole thing, and by the way he was looking at me, I think he knew to keep his mouth shut.

"You're a thief." I said to him.

Kalvin shook his head at that. "Ex thief. I haven't stole nothin' since the day I failed in takin' your 'phelion."

"But you stole the amplifier."

"That wasn't such a big deal! Ya a famous hero, you can buy 'im more!"

"But that isnt the point!" I cried out, exasperated. "You stole! You stole the amplifier and that's why Grim's kicked you out! Don't you see how you're completely trying to justify your actions even though it's wrong?! You broke your promise about going back to taking things that isn't yours!"

"Its not a big-"

"It is! You keep avoiding the truth! And don't you think I haven't seen what was in your bag, too." (Tell me how that wasn't heard by said mechanic. Guess it must be how condensed it feels in here.)

"Do you actually feel bad about doing that, Kalvin? Not putting up a facade of pretending to just to get back in here?" I asked quietly after I calmed down. "Or is it just a lie?"

Kalvin jumped out from his seat, extremely affronted and cross. A mix of both.

"I'm not pretendin' Ratchet! I do feel bad, okay?"

I crossed my arms and gave him a shake of my head. "Sorry to say, but for the time I've known you, you've played with my and Clank's sympathy to get what you wanted. I had a feeling you were trying to get me to vouch for you."

"That's...that's not... that's not exactly..."

The words seemed to fail him right then. With a defeated look, he slumped down to the floor, resting his elbows on his knees and covering his face with his hands.

I stood by, quiet. I think I might've come across too harshly...

"It's a habit I'm tryin' to break out of, Ratchet." Kalvin muttered quietly. "It's what I know how to do best... what I've be doin' for years...and it doesn't go 'way that easy...

...If you were trying to impress the one person who doesn't really like you, wouldn't you have done that?"

Whirrr, clang, bang... clang, clang, clang...

I looked away, attention turned to the repairs being done out on the workshop. A brown booted leg was sticking out, twitching slightly, as I watched Grim struggle against a stubborn bolt needing to be tightening back in place on what looked like the undercarriage of a class B (?) Marcadian ship -a Cazar's, probably. I don't know. From where I was standing, I could have went on listing several components to the craft that made it work, what could fail later if not properly maintained, the estimate mileage it had and much more.

But there was a time when I didn't have that skill ingrained. When I was just like the Markazian sitting on the floor, looking all depressed.

It wasn't too long ago that I wouldn't have tried doing that myself: eager old me trying to make something, anything, to impress Grimroth Razz, Veldin's veteran fongoid mechanic (and my adoptive father, ehe), with what I've learned from him when he decided that day that I was ready to become a helper and a real apprentice in his Starship repair garage. And to be honest, street-smart me with comebacks and a defiant attitude hidden underneath a trying to be kind face, I don't really think he felt confident enough to let me work on _anything_ or _talk_ to any new customer alone, despite finally deeming me ready.

I was too childishly naive. And he wasn't alone in thinking that (if some of our neighbours were to be believed).

To be honest, I didn't think I was ready. I always tend to end up getting crazy with my work (exaggerating, Grim says) or messing something up due to too much prodding and poking out of curiosity and fun (you never seem to take these jobs seriously, he says). But those were few and far in between... sometimes. I'm guessing that was just me feeling a little self conscious about myself.

Still, those were the days, though. I spent a lot of time trying to live up to his expectations. At around my thirteenth birthday, I had already built my first real omniwrench by hand. It was a real beauty too, despite being forged from thrown out parts in the junkyard. A few weeks later came along my new handmade swingshot, made from a broken Gagetron watch which was replated with a new shell and the innards from an old hoverboard. It died sometime three years after meeting clank, by the way.

The year after, I had finally -after weeks of talking myself into it- felt confident enough with myself to tackle a personal job: a land speeder from some robot guy downtown. I ended up pulling an all nighter trying and succeeding in fixing it, and when Grim found me asleep on the floor, the fongoid was so proud he cuffed me in the ear for being 'an idiot' and took me out to eat later in the night.

It was during the time we spent talking about certain parts to buy and such that he had shown me that he's gotten used to my presence around the place and that he was glad he happened to find me -despite all the times I know he's wanted to bash his own head on a nice sturdy wall whenever I went off tangents with him and the customers and talked about my dreams of being part of the Galactic Rangers and meeting Captain Qwark (and when I quipped about leaving the garage in my name when he died, Grim paled and told me about having to one day learn how to deal with the all galaxy's stupidity. I think he was referencing me).

With a real talent in the field, it didn't take long for me to start being put to work on several smaller jobs alone and earning more bolts for the business. It's until later when we were looking for the fabled "Lombax secret" that I learned my species was well known for tackling projects and creating amazing and clever pieces of technology (inserting dangerous dimension opening device here, as an example. My own dad died to keep that hidden). So I'm guessing I already had it in me at some point. I just needed guidance from a father figure.

But Kalvin wasn't so lucky. Up until the day I met him after fixing up his stolen ship and eventually trying to take Aphelion with a black market Hijacker, he's been stealing and selling items from all over the place until I made him stop. And even when he did, Grim hadn't taken a liking to the Markazian ex thief, no matter how much the guy tried to make some sort of friendship with him. So when Kalvin had come back to see me (after the whole Vendra incident and a small funeral for Cronk and Zephyr) he asked for some assistance in making something since Grim shifted the job to me.

That's when the whole "teaching" shebang started out slowly, then suddenly withdrew all lessons with Kalvin, then turned into some missed and overly rushed lessons from my part due to being released four weeks ago and feeling guilty that I haven't been very nice to the guy. Eventually I knew it was going to bite me back in the tail.

"I get that I'm a thief, Ratchet."

"And he speaks once more!"

Kalvin glared back. "I haven't got a great childhood," he continued. "Grew up in an orphanage on Kerwan, learned how to pickpocket suckers for bolts, ran 'round the galaxy stealin' whatever caught my fancy, and 'ventually tried to steal your Lombax ship-"

"Aphelion."

Kalvin nodded. "Yea, 'phelion, and a bunch of your things a year ago just to pay back some money I owed to some people. Ya know all that." He rose to his feet and slunk back to where his satchel was in the crate. "But I am tryin', Ratchet. I know I did wrong..." -sigh- "...and ya were right, as usual."

"Hm."

He turned away from me, and our attention was casted back outside to where Grim was currently walking around the ship, looking for any last minute problems. He then went into running some quick diagnostic scans-the last part being a test with the mag stabilisers on-to see whether it would fly properly or require even more time. And time is money!

I could see he really wanted to fix his problems, especially the way he looked at how the old fongoid mechanic went along getting the mag stabiliser ready for tests, with an eager expression.

"How do you feel about all this," I asked him, "honestly?"

"Really bad. I could punch meself for messin' with the Razz."

"It hurts, doesn't it? To know that someone is actually upset with you?"

"Yes..." he paused. "And are ya mad at me, eh?"

I shook my head and chuckled.

"If... you wanna make it up to him, go buy him a new one."

Kalvin looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm being serious. Earn bolts -HONESTLY, don't trying using the money from the stolen items in that bag to purchase it- and buy him a part. They're not too expensive, but it's going to be a big amount nonetheless."

He gave a curt nod.

"And you have to get them from the manufacturer, since this specific piece isn't sold in stores." I added. "340 ionic amps. Not the 342, those didn't fit too well, and that's what they'll try to sell you when you ask. Believe me, I've had Sasha making complains whenever her people have complains about theirs."

"...okay..."

Kalvin grabbed his satchel out of the crate, and with it came several pieces of the plasma coils' outer glass body, dropping to the floor beneath our feet.

Well, his boots and my feet, actually. I had to hop away to avoid getting cut.

We stared at the mess for a while, and I thought about how I could explain it to Grim when he found out. "Might as well get him some new coils too, Kalvin. Those aren't costly at all, and are sold down by the old junkyard. The manager there sells them cheap, 860 bolts a box." I suggested.

"That I can do!"

With a grin like nothing serious happened in the past few minutes, Kalvin shook the rest of the pieces from his satchel, strapped it on and crept towards the door. But before leaving he turned around to face me once again, with a more subdued, honest smile on his face.

"Thanks for listenin' buddy," he said. "I knew ya'd help me."

I shook my head. "You didn't give me much of a choice, Centauri. You weren't going to leave until you got what you needed from me."

His face fell a little. "Ratchet-"

"Nah, don't worry, it's not like that." I waved him away. "Now go, before he walks in and catches you and me in here"

"He kicked ya out?"

"No, I'm not supposed to be in the living room. Now go!"

The Markazian shook his head and quickly darted out the door. I watched as he jumped between large crates near the entrance as silently as he could and scampered out from metal flooring into the dirt road. His figure soon vanished over the small bridge and mountain, like he never existed.

Guess his skills as a thief served him well in escaping because that whole process was _fast_.

With him gone for (hopefully) more replacement coils I turned back to the broken pieces of glass on the floor and, with a frown on my face, I released a heavy sigh. _He couldn't have read the crate first before putting his bag on it, now could he, the lazy bum? What if Clank sees this this mess? Or_ Grim _for that matter? Jeez, I don't even think I can make it to the kitchen and back in ti-_

The sudden twitching of my ears alerted me to the distinct sound of heavy, boot-like footsteps approaching the room, and I snapped out of my thoughts with widened eyes. But before I was about to dart behind the crates and hide, the footsteps stopped, and a gruff sounding voice instantly pinned me to my spot with a question that had my fur standing up in surprise.

"So, Ratchet, how did your little 'secret' meeting with Centauri go?"

I muttered a curse under my breath before inwardly sighing.

 _...Crap_.

* * *

 **Chapter 1 END**

* * *

 **AN: Just redid this chapter, using the info given from the Wikia about Grim and Ratchet.**

 **Also, Im back! I'll explain more in Chapter 2!**

 **Yea, Ratchet might sound off than I normally haven him to be but dont worry he will be back to his usual self in the next chapters. Theres a reason though and some other things too added into it. Hopefully anyone who reads this will comment whether I did good or bad hehe.**

 **Also yeah. Another Oc but hes nessecary. This is mostly in the point of view of Ratchet and mainly about him but Kalvin is a part of this specific story. A story device person? Bleh.**

 **-A useless (little) microfluff, Miccah!**


	2. Well, here we go again (sigh)

**-:-That One Random Day When...-:-**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Well, here we go again**

* * *

 _ **In which Ratchet slowly becomes exasperated, Clank is oblivious to Ratchet slowly becoming exasperated, and apparently Grimroth's backing Clank up, but in his usual Grimroth way.**_

 _ **Oh, and Kalvin's back.**_

* * *

 **The Starship Repair Garage, Kyzil Plateau**

 **-:-**

"So, Ratchet, how did your little _secret_ meeting with Centauri go?"

Didn't miss the emphasis on the word "secret" right there and then.

... _crap._

I turned my head slowly to the side. The voice revealed itself to belong to no one other than Grimroth, who was looking at me with a frown on his face as he leaned against the metal door frame, arms out and crossed in front of him.

"Oh...hey there," I said almost weakly as I turned myself around to fully face him, avoiding stepping on any small pieces of glass on the spot behind me. "You're finished early..."

Grim scoffed. "I'm not even fully finished with the diagnostics of the first job, and I wouldn't bother trying to change the topic, kid. I know that thief was here. Happened to see him slink on by, hiding behind those oversized crates nearby." He gave a brief glance towards said crates before turning his attention back to me, shaking his head with a small chuckle. "It's sort of the same thing _you_ used to do when you were trying to leave somewhere without asking. Except you're a little harder to hear...Say it's more of an 'instinct' than anything with you."

"Yea..."

"Yea." Grim stood straight. "And I also know he broke my coils."

At my questioning look, he nudged at the spot behind me with a finger. "Ratchet, I know you have a tendency to break stuff, but I saw Centauri leave and put two and two together. So unless you're tellin' me that you had a sudden grudge against them, there's no use standing in front of the evidence. Broken glass hurts when you find yourself steppin' on it."

"Ahm," I rubbed my arm slightly, "Right."

Moving away from his path, I watched as the old mechanic make his way over to the crates, a few minor crunches of glass heard under his boots even as he avoided stepping on them. Bending down with a grunt, he picked up a small shard up off the floor, looked at it with a huff of annoyance, and then dropped it back into the crate with the others. "I'll have to go order more of these," Grim said, turning to look at me and then to the room's indoor window; to the main garage outside. The two ships he was currently working on shined under the garage room lights. "But I have a lot on my plate right now..."

"You know, I could always go," I offered. "It's not that far away from here."

The response was quick and firm. " _No_."

I flinched at the tone. "Okay, okay, fine... It's a good thing that I sent Kalvin out to get more, anyways." I muttered under my breath.

Grim's head instantly snapped to my direction. A look of utter distain was clearly visable at the mention of the name. "I don't want anything from that Markazian. He's nothing but trouble, if this ain't one of the many reasons that can back me up. I'll...just go order them myself later, they arent that important." He began to sift through the crate, mumbling and looking for any more broken coils. I watched him, absently thinking.

Of course Grim would order more himself. Still hung up over that amplifier. Like I had said before, Tal had gifted it along with the stabiliser to us. We loved it a lot, but out of Grim and I, Grim loved it even more. A great replacement for the one we had before. So I can see why he's too stubborn in forgiving Kalvin with his grudge over that.

 _But..._

That didn't mean that I didn't feel exactly pitty Kalvin, because in whole hearted Lombax honesty, despite the fact that he bothers me constantly with too much questions on about anything and everything mechanical, I kinda did. Kalvin was a good person, I guess.

 _Maybe_. In his own way.

And the guy _did_ lose his home in that blast...

...but then again, it _was_ Kalvin's fault. He brought it upon himself for taking the amp and trying to build something that even I myself wasn't too sure it'd work! And I make sure to tell myself that whenever my feelings of guilt come up. Even I had to learn the hard way.

 _Though seriously, I still do feel bad-_

"Still here? Thought you would have scrambled on out before I came back."

The sentence snapped me out of my thoughts. I blinked a few times; realising that I had been looking at the floor for a good while, I looked up to see Grim walking past me with a small broom and dustpan in hand. "So what are you doing down here, anyways?" He asked me as he began to sweep up the shards with quick, large strides. "Didn't Clank say you were supposed to be in bed or somethin'?"

"Yes. Yes he did." I leaned my back against the back of the old sofa, crossing my hands with a roll of my eyes. There was a small pang of annoyance that began to creep back up inside of me, and within in, a hint of anger began to brew. "But why would I be in bed for, Grim?" I said. "It's not like I'm sick or anything to be lying in bed all day."

He gave me a look. "You do know you've been discharged a few weeks ago, right?"

"Oh no. No, no, no...," I closed my eyes for a bit. "We're really not going to do this again, Grim. Not again..."

" _Ratchet_."

 _Sigh. "_ Yeah, okay," I replied as calmly as I could while quickly stomping down the feeling because I wasn't really in the mood to deal with the outcome if it had shown. "I know. And that was _four weeks ago_ , Grim," I held up four fingers in his direction, " _Four weeks_ ago."

"And yet, you're still on observation until further notice." He replied, matter of factly.

 _That again...?_ My hand dropped down and I frowned. "And yet I said I'm _fine_. Really. And besides, some of us _did_ get hit harder with whatever the hell kind of sickness that was than the rest. The time was a little extended on us, that's all. But I'm fine now-"

"No you're _not_."

What anger and annoyance I had felt before crawled back up again, and again I batted it down. "I really don't know why I have to keep stressing this to you..." I muttered, rubbing my forehead.

"Do I need to remind you that you risked your _health_ and _life_ to save _Centauri's_ two days ago?" Grim stated, cutting me off with a look on his face. He then lumbered over to where I was, indicated our exit from the room with a tilt of his head (I went to grab my empty glass off the coffee table and noted it was gone, in which the mechanic said he brought it back to the kitchen), and I followed him out to the main floor.

Grimroth's garage -aka the main area- was a wonder in itself. Not only was it very large and spacious (designed to deal with the constant demands from Veldin's populace, from changing capacitors to other minor and major miscellaneous things), but it was filled with a bunch of stuff that could make a fellow gearhead mechanic like me drool with happiness: large crates full of new parts like void and plasma battery clusters, flux cartridges, and electromagnetic clamps of different sizes shipped from off-planet sites, plus an area where we keep the most basic but diverse tools of the trade: screws, bolts, chrome drives, sonic spanners, wrenches, hammers, et cetera.

Giving the place a homely feel were a few metal pipes and cables strewn around certain parts of the floor, smudges of oil that I offered to clean up a while back in the week but had been told to go away by head mechanic in charge, a few folding chairs to the side with a mini table and empty cups scattered around.

In the middle of everything was a newly refurbished and up to standard mag lift dangling from its place on the ceiling, its cables running along the sides of the room and connecting to a power generator outside. Beside it was a state of the art magnetic stabiliser built to the ground which was currently holding up a Cazarian ship, newly fixed and ready to be picked up (and if I had my way, somewhat modded, too). The console beside the stabiliser was actively running a few standby tests, making a low humming noise. On the side of the whole setup was another ship: red, old and currently in shop for a change in its capacitors.

"Now I don't know what you were thinking, kid," Grim said as we walked outside of the garage and into normally hot Veldin landscape, "But that explosion, which may I remind you turned into a _fire_ , gave you an easy high fever because Clank said something about your immune system still recuperating."

" _Pssh_ , it wasn't that high."

"You're telling me 103.1 degrees isn't high enough for you?"

"Aha...no?" I replied. "I don't need to point out that we live in Veldin, do I?"

"Heat with heat is dangerous, Ratchet. You're insane."

We arrived at the edge of the garage building, where on its side were six garbage bins lined up with various disposed items in them. As I leaned on the metal support beam nearby, Grim left the broom propped against the wall and turned the dustpan over to dump the broken coils' shards inside the first bin marked with my carelessly scrawled handwriting (from waaay back years ago), _"Broken Glass"._

"Well, somebody had to go save him," I huffed out in between metal _bangs_ and _clinks_ of falling glass. "Kalvin himself was unconscious and I knew the dangers, so it was either stand there and watch as he possibly dies from the smoke, or go in there, feel guilt free and face any possible side effects later."

"But you could barely run fast with Centauri, even with the rush of adrenaline you had when you came out," the Fongoid countered. "Add the fact that you got burned at the tail and a fever" -here, he closed the bin and folded the dustpan closed- "that's why, with your condition, not to mention still working muscle memory, is why we wait for the professionals-"

"But I _am_ a _professional_!"

He shook his head. "Ratchet, it doesn't matter. You weren't in shape at all to jump inside-"

"Grim," I said in the most calmnest voice I could muster up at the time, because really, I almost wanted to yell (he was starting to get me slightly angry). "You, of all people, should know that the closest thing Kyzil Plateau has to a fire department here are a bunch of fire loving lazy bums. They didn't get there until _later._ He could have died before they showed up!"

"Who could have died by then?"

 _Ah...Well, I know who that is..._

I groaned. Having already picked up on the approaching footsteps a minute ago, I knew the voice spoken from in front of us belonged to a certain small robot that we both knew very well.

"Hello Clank," Grim greeted as he grabbed the broom off its spot and transferred it to the hand that was also holding the dustpan. "Are you going to need help with that?"

With his free hand, he pointed at a small cart that the small zoni robot was pulling along. It held four brown bags full of groceries. At the sight of a box of cookies peeking out from one of those bags, I grinned widely.

"Food!"

Immediately, I darted towards the cart to see what goodies my good pal might have bought, but all Clank did was move it away from me with a gentle push and a look on his face. I rolled my eyes, frowning slightly and stepped away. Grim took his time walking to us.

Clank looked at the mechanic first with a smile and shook his head. "I thank you for the offer, Grimroth, but it is fine. I can pull this to the kitchen area." Then he turned his green optics back at me. His eyes narrowed slightly, giving him a more questioning look. "What are you doing up, Ratchet?" he said. "Are you not supposed to be upstairs?"

"Oh great," I moaned, "Another one."

"Um..." Clank gave me a quizzical look.

I sighed. "Really guys, I'm not deathly ill nor do I need to be in bed all the time, alright? So please, quit saying that."

With that said, I turned and began walking (more like stalking off) back towards the garage. Both of them followed along, with my pal hurrying as fast as he could while pulling the cartload of groceries (which caused a lot of grunts from him and creaks from the cart) and Grim moving away from us after a few steps inside, and towards a small closet to put away the stuff he had. A beep then sounded, which I knew were the tests on the ship that had finished. I was going to go and see what things needed to be done or whether everything came out alright, but before I even made the conscious decision to go over there, Grim yelled at me to leave it alone. He didn't like me touching things he was working on.

Especially if he thinks I'm still _sick_.

So instead, I walked off towards the kitchen for a drink, and Clank and his cart followed after.

* * *

Our kitchen: it wasn't too bad for a starship mechanic's place, if I do say so myself. Having been here many times after the small little room was built, I've noted that the space was basically constructed a few feet near the other garage exit using a flimsy metal board held upright by bolts attaching it to one side of the garage wall and the floor, along with some crates that were filled to the top with rocks as a resting place for the board so that it didn't flail around. But those crates were useless, since about eight years later, we had added a few pillar stands to do the job.

Come to think of it, I think it was about five years ago, maybe, that the Fongoid mechanic had told me to get those rocks back outside and I still haven't done it...Not that anyone is complaining about it right now, heh.

Inside, there was a table which we sometimes don't use in favour of eating out in the open air that was made from a ship's door and held in place by two small metal boxes, Veldin-native blanched wood stools that are still quite dependable but have seen better days, a new frig -because the last one decided it was time to bid us adieu with a rotten surprise, the old's fridge's long time and still on life support companion: the microwave, two mini stoves placed on top of a long plank that made up the kitchen's chopping and prepping area and a small sink with a cupboard Clank and I made above it to place dry dishes (currently housing six bowls, plates, spoons, knives and forks with an assortment of pots and pans). There was no door to this room and compared with how big the garage ceiling was and the fact that the kitchen didn't even exist when Grim had originally bought this place (before Clank, the only kitchen we had was just an old grill, a few plates, forks, paper cups and a small frig), it looked surprisingly natural within our space. Usually gives off a nice 'feeling' of comfort.

At the moment however, I felt nothing of the sort. The whole day's feeling was kind of like the calm before the storm. Everyone near me walking on pins and needles.

 _Very_ sharp pins and needles.

"I do not understand. You were sick with a fever yesterday, Ratchet," Clank said appearing just as I opened the refrigerator door. "You should be in bed, recuperating."

"Not if I feel better, Clank," I threw a quick glance back at him. "And I _am_ feeling better, so that means I'm _fine_."

"But my scans show that you are still-"

"Screw the scans."

We stayed silent for a while. I rummaged through our almost bare fridge and located a pitcher of iced tea that was almost done, and some things I could probably whip up into a sandwich as a snack for the meanwhile. Clank was sort of doing...something, I guess. I wasn't really looking at him but from behind me I did hear noises of bags wrinkling of weight, and were accompanied by the small squeaks of metal gears moving in a pattern.

A slow, _thinking_ pattern.

Decisive.

 _Oh, boy. He better not say anything..._

"But Ratchet..."

"Clank, please be quiet."

"But the doctor says-"

I let out a very loud groan and slammed the frig door shut, startling him and even myself.

"Oh gee, then screw the doctor!"

The amount of annoyance and anger that had been bottled up, and restrained the minutes ago had finally broken out in that outburst. My hand, still holding the handle of the frig door, clenched it tightly, shooting pain up my arm before it became tired and weakened its grip slightly. I growled. _At least it didn't just drop like it used to in the early weeks._

Clank watched the interaction carefully.

"Clank," I said after a good while of silence between us, "Look. I am really sorry for that outburst. I'm sorry for not staying up in my room. But I'm _reaaally_ getting tired of being babied around by the both of you."

The zoni bot didn't say anything. Instead, I watched his face go through a few expressions. Worry, fear, disappointment were the most prominent, until he settled for a hard, defiant look. Ditching my idea about getting a drink and food, I walked past my pal and headed outside to the main room. He followed me on out, and the groceries he was supposed to put away were abandoned for the moment.

"I do not know about you," he began speaking, using the same low voice I used on him. "but I do _care_ about your health-"

"Oh yea I know you do. You care a little too much, ' _Mother'_!" I couldn't help but keep ranting, voice getting louder to a yell. "Are you going to tell me how to dress too? Take me a shower? Feed me from a freaking bottle!?"

"Ratchet, quit antagonising Clank!" Grim shouted as soon as he heard the commotion. From the corner of my eye I could see him coming down from his room, looking a little more or less cleaned up.

"Antagonising him?" I cried incredulously. "He's doing that to me!"

"Just looking out for you isn't antagonism!"

"Oh yea! It's freaking annoying!"

" _Ratchet_!"

"What do you want from my life?!"

Clank was too speechless to say anything, which was a first since he's learned how to talk back to me whenever I ended up getting mad about something (which happens once in a while). He watched us argue for a bit before I turned an eye to him.

He flinched at my look.

"Apologise now," Grim demanded. I ignored him.

"You care about my 'health' that much, pal?" I said to the robot, looking into green optics with an intensity that would've bore a hole right through them with ease. "Well then, here's a quick little update for ya: my health is damn well _fine."_

Clank still said nothing. But his face was a blank look.

Satisfied at the lack of words from either of them (and deep inside, feeling like an ass for not restraining my anger and taking it out on them), I spun around to take my leave.

It was at this moment at a wave of dizziness hit me.

The whole room moved as if though it were a ship at sea. My vision was clouded in multiple little bright lights twinkling all around me, slowly changing into a tunnel which started narrowing my view before changing into a block of dense grey haze with hints of black creeping at the sides. Throughout the ordeal, the noises muffled immensely, to the point where only a loud ringing noise was heard covering everything. My body felt airy, completely weak against the weight that sudden pinned me and I couldn't really say anything other than a last second moan before I felt myself fall down.

But I didn't black out completely.

I did manage to breathe more air into my lungs and exhale, which helped me to fight back the blackout before it happened -catching myself at a borderline. I fell noneless, and I did see, despite the growing dense haze, that Grimroth rushed like a fast moving bullet to my position and grabbed me before I hit the floor. It kinda surprised me because I didn't think him having that quick reaction.

But then again, I was a quick kid to chase after back then. He had to be, too.

The next second, Clank had something that looked like a thin book of a sort in his hand. I knew that because I could see his shiny metal self against the thinning grey and stars, and I felt air hit my face as his arms moved up and down, fanning me like if his life depended on it.

It took maybe two, two and a half seconds or so for me to realise that Grim was saying something to me. It was muffled, but slowly the muffled words changed into clear questions of "Are you okay?" and "how are you feeling?" sans ringing noise. It then turned to stuff about those "darn spells" and being right about me not feeling better, and the latter instantly brought the anger back. But instead of lashing out on them, I pushed free from the Fongoid mechanic's arms and rose to my feet quickly, yet shaky.

"I'm...I'm going... to my room," I hissed before shooting a hovershot tether to the garage ceiling and jumping up, leaving the two of them alone, worried.

* * *

"Ow."

 _I'm an ass._

Sitting upright on the middle of my bed, I clutched a blue pillow tightly to my chest, head resting on the top part of the soft material and tail curled up close to my feet. Not moving, not speaking. Just staring blankly at the wall across from me, decorated with shelves of tools, photos of people I knew and cared deeply for, and pieces of mechanical machinery strewn across its surfaces. At the smallish door opening that was covered with a curtain, leading to a balcony-like platform.

Hitting myself on the head with my hand.

 _I'm am ass, I'm an ass, I'm an ass..._ "Ow."

Alone

 _Yep, I'm such an ass._ "Ow!"

I sighed quietly.

 _This is all because of what happened those stupid four weeks ago._

My body fell to the side. I didn't move after that.

 _Back then, after I got out of the hospital... I still wasn't okay._

 _When I took my first steps out of my hospital room... walking down the corridors and outside the building... to a bunch of people that were somewhat all peppy and snapping photos like crazy as if it was an event than rather a serious situation...I wasn't okay. Physically, nor mentally._

 _I wasn't going to be okay for a while, and I was okay with that at first._

 _After a few days of sleeping, having the gang over and leaving them to their devices as I looked up towards the Veldin night sky... I thought about what happened to me inside that whole...dream, I should say._

 _Just a dream, yet it felt so real._

 _Three weeks all condensed into a few scenes that looked as if they came from a movie screen. And those scenes, when I read about dreams and what they mean, were just my way of coping with losses that I always shoved under the bed, not wanting to deal with them. Never really showing how much they affected me._

 _That day when Clank found me outside, he helped me back inside the garage, because I was tired of walking, and having the entire couch to myself while everyone crowded around me, I told them what happened. I don't think Grim looked at me the same way again when Clank and Talwyn recounted the story to him later. He's a sharp guy, looking underneath the underneath. But when I talked to him later, he ruffled my head and hugged me, proud that I was telling him myself, and then promptly yanked my tail for shoving everyone away when I needed support._

 _Oh yea. I wasn't going to be okay for a while, and I was okay with that at first._

 _Until everything seemed to hit me all at once._

"Hah, ain't that right..." I chuckled softly to myself.

 _Clank instantly began to treat me like a fragile doll. At first it was kind of nice. He had a good reason to: I couldn't seem to walk for more than a minute, I felt really tired all the time, I couldn't seem to keep down food despite the fact that it was just three weeks that I was unconscious, on IV bags in the hospital and was given nutrients there. I pretty much stayed in bed because even as I was discharged early -and yes, early because I threw a racket over there and wanted to go home. They checked me over and said that whatever the illness was was gone from my body- I was still weak. But nobody knew that until we had to move to Veldin because of the paparazzi camping out with their weapons of mass photography._

 _I also had fainting episodes. Those started four days after being discharged but didn't really occur often. They were rare, maybe around one every three to four days, and weren't life threatening but unpredictable so Grim had to keep a very close eye on me._

 _And yea, my immune system was crap, too. But so were every other organics' who contracted the same thing. It was low, but not low enough that it'd be a total danger. But still low that I could get aggressive colds rather than the normal ones I'd get if it were normal, or the deadly turnout if it were shot to hell. And that's exactly what I ended up getting, when Qwark visited us again on Veldin._

 _Grimroth kicked him right out, hero or no hero._

 _He made sure to thank him from a distance for a nice basket of fruit that Brax, Cora and Elaris had gotten me._

 _Needless to say, I didn't like the vomiting and stomach pains that kept inferring with my sleep and wanted to cry so badly. I snuck sleeping pills, ready to take them but they were taken from me. So I felt like a little kit again as I spent several hugging the life out of my adoptive father's arm..._

"Hah. Probably broke it too, if the wincing wasn't evidence."

 _...and attempted to swallow a sickly syrupy medicine that Clank had received from the doctor._

I shuddered.

 _When that tide washed out, it was already two weeks into the whole recovery period, but because of the still occurring blackouts I wasn't surprised when I was told that I, along with several other people, were still on 'observation'. So yeah, I was upset but understood why. So during the time in that status, I practiced a lot in moving around to get used to doing things again. It wasn't hard because I knew how to move and stuff, but my muscles did weaken so the activity was always tiring._

 _Three weeks into the recovery period and I was able to do much of my usual normal activities: running, walking, riding my hoverboard before I got caught by Grim and Talwyn one day and had it locked up somewhere that to this day I don't know the location of, building and fixing things..._

 _But still, that's where this whole anger comes from! Grim won't let me touch anything or work because he's nervous about letting me near tools which is a very weird thing to see, Clank still kept mothering me and keeping me cooped up inside the garage, and both those situations got progressively worse when I had to save Kalvin from an explosion he caused, probably by crossing two wires he shouldn't have or something and got sick AGAIN. By then my patience in giving into their worrying ways were running thin._

"So I guess it was only time before I exploded from all that caring, _eeesh_." I buried my face into the pillow's soft material. "It's crazy and annoying..."

"An' a jail sentence! Cuz if I know one thing 'bout prison, it's that ya be livin' in one."

"...Oh yea. You would know now, wouldn't you?"

I lazily looked up to see Kalvin hanging out outside by my window. He waived at me with a wide grin. "Hiya there, my only main Lombax _compadre_." he said.

"Hey Kalvin." I got up into a sitting position before moving off the bed and leaned by the large windows nearby, where he hung outside. I nudged at the window. "So how long did it take you now to get up here, huh?"

The Markazian thief's grin grew even more as he took out a small stopwatch and clicked it off, then tossed it to me. I caught it in hand. "'Bout two minutes 'cuz the mag didn' wanna tag to the wall, but it's a record I tell ya!" His smile grew even louder, and so did his excited voice. "A record!"

"And a record it will be when Grim catches you up here due to your screaming " I chuckled. His infectious attitude was starting to rub on me. "Fastest response time ever, because man you're loud."

Kalvin blew a raspberry at that. "Nuh-uh-uuuh, I told'ja many times. I'm a veteran ex _thief_. Used'ta be best in the trade, if I do say so meself!"

"Yea, And he's a _mechanic_. The best in the trade, with a very good aim using various pointy objects cuz he was taught by _Talwyn Apogee_."

His grin faltered at the mere mention of her name. "...Oh. Okay. I don' needa see that, yep."

"Hah!" I waved a dismissive hand at him. "Just get inside before you get caught."

"Yessir! Open the hatch, gen'ral!"

 _If it were that easy_ , I sighed.

Opening the small lock that held one of the big windows closed wasn't an easy task. Even when I was at my full strength, it took a great deal of force to get the medium sized metal handle to budge an inch. But the strength it took to move it definitely showed its worth, as it made those windows stay _securely_ shut in events such as Veldin's yearly sandstorms that happen to scare the hell out of me (always sounds as if though someone was moaning in the wind, like a ghost) whenever they passed by Kyzil Plateau than automatic ones that cost a lot and last for a short time. And Grim was the only one ever to make sure every heavy duty window in the garage was locked, because apparently he was the only one that could easily open and close them. He even installed those when the last ones gave out. The automatic openers broke down and he didn't want to spend money finding someone who could fix that! It definitely killed any prospects of me having a nice room with a nice open window to let a breeze in when we both were setting the room's foundation up to be stable.

But that didn't mean I didn't try to open the big window panels.

One of my favourite ways to leave the garage and explore when I was youger was during the night, when the mechanic was asleep and I've managed to slowly get the window open, which took about a good hour of pushing. I was _that_ dedicated. And with that free window access in mind, my escapades were never known until a sandstorm hit three days later. Luckily, most of the damage happened in my room, thank goodness for leaving the door closed behind me when I ran to Grim for safety. I got a scolding and never tried opened them since.

And now... As I pushed and pushed, I forgot how much strain it'd take to open it up, adding the fact of having muscle fatigue. But I miraculously got it open in under a few minutes, which was both a good thing and a bad thing since that means that Kalvin won't get caught by Grim and that I'd have to be extra cautious in my mission of dropping subtle hints about having him checking them again.

Hopefully Clank doesn't ask questions. I need him to unwittingly go along with it.

Giving the loose window panel a push, Kalvin managed to squeeze himself into the narrow opening without any problems and dropped inside my room with a light footed landing. Unzipping the magnetic harness and hook off the the side of the garage wall, he then immediately zoned straight onto my bed and laid down with a loud sigh. I heard an audible _slap_ come from behind me after that and when I turned around from making sure the lock was as properly shut as I could make it, his mouth was clamped shut with his hands. His eyes were widened with the whites showing out, reading danger all around him.

"Ol' Razzy's not hearin' us right now, is he?" He whispered while attempting to get into a crouching position behind the side of the bed.

I watched him in amusement, then shook my head. "Nope. Door's closed, Centauri. Not much can get through them. You're safe, for now."

With a gloved finger, I pointed the Markazian to my door: a metal gate, recently added, which I sometimes pulled down whenever I needed to be in a place alone (before the roof was deemed non access because I had nearly fell off it some years back). It was closed shut with a number pad lock. His face visibly relaxed at the sight and he let out another sigh. He was lucky; I knew that the only ones who knew the code _were_ Grim and Clank, but they knew better than to come up here when I was upset.

 _But that didn't mean they wouldn't come up here soon to check up on me..._

"Okay! So before you end up getting side tracked, can we get to the reason why you're here, Kalvin?" I pulled up a comfy chair nearby that Clank uses as a bed to sit down on and rapped my fingers tunelessly on the mini work table's surface. "You're kinda on a time check, so what? No more plasma coils?"

Kalvin slumped his head in defeat. "Nope. None that I could find'ja after breakin' in durin' the man'ger's break. I'm sorry, Ratchet."

"Eh, it's okay, Kalvin. Don't worry about it. Grim wasn't going to accept them if you brought them here, and it'd be a pointless waste in money." At Kalvin's look I replied with a small shrug. "Grim knows you broke them."

"Oh."

"Yeap, Though you should have read the crate you put your bag in first. Grim depended on that junkyard because it was cheap and close by. Now that they're out of coils we need, Grim'll have to get them from-"

"Ceros," The Markazian finished for me with a snap of his fingers. It was if a lightbulb flashed on top of his head the way he exclaimed, "That's the place I be seein' written on the orderin' chart a lot when I sneaked a li'l peak! It's in Igliak, prolly! Maybe there'll be some in there!"

He began to jump around the room very excitedly, his tail twitching a little and once again his infectious attitude ended up making me happier, too. I smiled.

Then he stopped parading and gave me a questioning look.

" _Sigh_...Spit it out, Centauri." I said.

"Um..." Kalvin slowly sat back down on the bed and instantly gave me a sly grin. "There's somethin' in town today that ya might wanna take interest in..." he said, his voice lowered close to a whisper.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Yea, Ratchet. Ya see, when I be passin' down the area to see 'bout those coils, I saw this strange hovertruck vehicle parked waaaaaaay far off to the side!"

I leaned back onto the chair.

He frowned. "Okay, so that don't seem to be clinching ya in..."

"The point?" I asked, impatiently. "I don't need to remind you that you are overstaying your welcome here."

He was upset about what I said, but the Markazian recovered. He gave me another grin, this one being wider and mischievous than I've ever seen on his face and I sighed when I almost visually saw his eyes gleaming.

"I'm thinkin' thisa be a _secret weapons truck_ ," he sang out.

My eyes widened at the italics.

(I should have known that he had me in the bag by then.)

* * *

 **Planet Veldin, Solana Galaxy**

 **Kzyil Plateau, west (Wastelands)**

 **6:52pm**

 **-:-**

It didn't take us long to get to this supposed "truck" that Kalvin had mentioned. After a few more prods about my love for new shooting thingies, my desperation in needing to finally get out and do something without anyone hounding over me, and a promise that he'd be careful when we get close to the vehicle, I found myself fully dressed in my trademark outfit and trusty wrench in hand, sliding down the thief's mag rope and onto the smaller building section's roof.

Kalvin gave the open window panel a push to at least close it shut as much as he could, slid down the rope and landed right beside me.

We were almost caught by Grim at one point, as while we were hiding nearby behind a few rocks, but the mechanic walked by us without noticing to check over a generator that I could hear was making a few shuddering noises. _Engine overheating?_ Probably so, as he carried a bucket full of water with him.

Once the coast was clear, Kalvin and I then ran towards an intersection like someone was trying to chase us, and after a few minutes of running I grew tired so we walked the rest of the way until we reached another spacious lot. On the lot, there was a topless building that was surrounded in laser wire and had some poorly armed yet still dangerous robot patrolmen walking around its borders.

One of them waved to me, and I waved in return. It was the Junkyard, the supposed _"Home to everything broken under the Sun"._ (Seriously, that was its slogan. A lie though, because I know by personal visits that it also sold working parts.)

Further down the road was just as the Markazian thief had said, and so it was: the truck itself, parked to the side as if it were abandoned.

"So this is the truck, huh?" I said, panting as we approached our target. _Damn the fatigue..._

Kalvin nodded sharply, excitement in his voice. "Yup, my main Lombaxian Lombax," he announced, singing before taking off into a sprint. "The weapons truck I tol'ja 'bout!"

The hover truck seemed decent. Its exterior was a solid white and grey colour, with good reinforced metal all over (possibly a Raritanium finish?). There was some mild scratch marks that showed its usage had been recent -possibly a few weeks old, so it was new. I also noticed that there seemed to be no logo indicating who or what company owned it.

And its engines were still running, but on neutral.

Normally, I'd have been worried if Kalvin ended up getting shot at by the possible driver, but seeing him still alive, it was clear to me that no one was at the wheel. There were small mirrors attached to the sides of the driver and passenger seat so if anyone was inside, we would have been caught right away.

My eyes then focused on a fast food joint located just across from the truck -the only one here before any sort of life ended and the natural land began. The small joint looked pretty run down: its walls and main door had visible patches of rust all around. The only signs that showed life in the business was its vendor lights flicking off and on and the voices of customers laughing or shouting inside. I even spotted a few familiar Kyzil denizens (ones that were frequent customers to our garage) enjoying a meal but the rest of the bots and organics who lived here or came here were foreign to me. But they all seemed normal. Innocent.

Made it harder to pinpoint _who_ might be keeping an eye on the truck inside, in case it was a trap. This was Veldin, after all.

 _So whoever left this here,_ I thought to myself as I pretended to pay mind to what Kalvin was saying right then, _Were they were that seriously hungry to just drop their ride and leave it still on? Because really, don't they know that they have weapons that might possibly be worth millions in..._

Suddenly I frowned at the thought.

 _Wait a minute_...

"...How in the hell do _you_ know that the hover truck has _weapons_ inside, Kalvin?" I instantly rounded on said Markazian, who jumped at the tone.

Against my narrowed glare he gave me a sheepishly crooked smile. "Ehehe...Yea."

I rubbed my forehead and sighed. "Oh please, Centauri... don't tell me you _opened_ the truck's back door before you came to tell me about it?"

Kalvin huffed loudly and crossed his hand with a frown. "Ratchet, dear buddy!" He said, sounding as if though he were affronted. "I'm an _ex thief._ I wouldn' _never_ be openin' backs of trucks to peek inside 'em! That be goin' 'gainst the promise I gave ya an' Razzy!"

"Huh. So then why would you immediately say that it had weapons in it?" I asked, doubtful of his proclaimed innocence. "Maybe it has other things inside."

"I'm a _thief_. I be knowin' these things."

"...And if I checked to make sure?"

He clamped up and didn't say a word. Just by looking at him, I could tell he was lying. So with eyes on me, I walked over to the door and smacked it hard with the palm of my hand. It slid a quarter of the way up before going back down.

The Markazian grinned.

"Yea. So I did peek in a lit'l," Kalvin rolled his eyes in response to my raised eyebrow. "But look," -he opened the door half way and shoved my head inside- "it's got a bunch of WEAPONS!"

He wasn't lying. Inside the fairly normal hover truck were a lot of metal crates, some opened, that contained several types of blasters, launchers, rifles, handheld grenade guns of different shapes and sizes...so much so that I was actually concerned on how this was all just parked so carelessly outside and that it took a lowly ex thief to find them because he was probably _bored_ enough to go picklocking again.

This was Veldin, after all. A _BACKWATER_ planet where "even if the population was friendly, there are still some people who do under-counter deals and were either running away from something, or were the ones that people were trying to run away from".

Or at least, that's what Grim and most of the other people in the other different planets I've travelled to have told me, in word or pamphlet.

 _But at least it was Kalvin who_...

"Ah!"

I felt my shoulders being grabbed and I found myself being shook like crazy by a extremely excited and giggling Markazian fanboy. "Weapons, my Lombax friend! _SO MANY WEAPONS_ -"

"- _THAT_ we are going to leave alone and forget about, Kalvin." I finished off for him. As his face shifted into disappointment, I pried his hands off me and began to move away slowly while eying the fast food place. "We are going back on our separate ways home. You are not going to steal these, and we aren't going to get into any _fights_ because we are going to leave, mind you that as much as I _hate_ -no, _loathe_ to say it, but I don't think I'll be able to hold out on my own if we get _caught_ -"

"But they have a _PYRO LACERATOR_ , Ratchet!" he cried out, waving his hands up and down. "Witha bunch of different shiny _mods_! Didn'cha ya say ya wanted one before?"

I looked at the truck.

 _Ooh, the temptation_...

The Pyro Laucerator was a new design based off of the old laucerator guns that were sold by Gadgetron _years_ ago. I used to have a pair of the old ones that I used in some of my early heroic ventures, before they ended up becoming beginner weapons for target practice with Grim and Tal. But these pyro ones were days new -and they had _fire_ incorporated into them! _FIRE_! And when I saw that GrummelNet commercial: AoE damage, provided a nice display of lights when hitting a target (kinda like a mini firework or fire ball) and were stronger and quite faster, with very low recoil in each shot...

They had me at "possible paraequal" to the Omniblasters that I always favored as a sidearm. I wanted one so bad that I was close to stealing Tal's when she showed me hers.

Just like I wanted to steal the one Kalvin was showing me in his _HAND_ -

"Dah-!"

I didn't really have time to actually notice what was happening until after I was yanked inside the truck, hiding behind a row of crates I instinctively moved around so that the both of us could fit into. In front of me, Kalvin had the truck door closed shut and it was dark all around, but I didn't have to see with my eyes to know that the Markazian had a finger to his lips, mimicking a shh sound silently.

More murmurs continued, growing closer.

 _Voices_ , I though. My ears had twitched a few seconds ago, so I guess it was something I subconsciously noted before but didn't really listen to. _Almost close_...

"Did you really have to go and leave a tip?"

"Yes. It's only compensation for the massive headache the waiter probably got having to deal with your constant menu changes."

"Constant?"

"I'm surprised he didn't try to rip your head off after the fourth complaint!"

"Not my fault that they can't cook."

"We didn't stop at a five star restaurant. You either eat or you get out!"

 _Well, damn if that second guy didn't have a point_ , I snickered _._

There was two male voices, one sounding roughly baritone and upset while the other having a robotic touch to it and obviously annoyed approaching the hover vehicle in heated discussion. When they got close enough, they both split up: one going to the passengers' seat and the other one going to the drivers'.

We both heard the side doors close with a rough bang. As I was about to whisper to Kalvin about leaving the truck quietly and then running for our lives, the smart one (which I'm assuming is the robotic one of the duo) ended up asking the other guy to check the back door to make sure nothing was stolen "because it's Veldin," and ain't that the truth, if I pin what Kalvin did and what I wanted to do to that saying.

 _Because seriously. Who just ditches their truck out just for food?_

I squeaked in pain; Kalvin made for the small space I created and stepped on my tail. We then both watched with barely contained nervousness as the sunset light began to filter into the interior of the small enclosure, and after a few minutes of just poking things with his hand or whatever the heck the tapping noise was the driver closed the door back up. There was then an audible _clink_ from the locking mechanism, along with a small beep that came from the small pin outside.

We didn't really say anything until the hover truck began to move towards an angle, presumably on its way to going out of Veldin's orbit.

By then, I was just _partially_ catatonic.

"Ratchet, buddy...?"

Silence.

"Raaaaatchet." Kalvin called again.

More silence.

"Ratchet!"

I felt a hard poke on my shoulder which snapped me out of my state.

"Yea...?" I whispered weakly.

"Would I be able to use the Decryptor to get us out of here?"

"Right now?"

A slight pause. "Mm-hm."

"Um...," _there was something Clank said about this before._ "its got to have a terminal specific to the Decryptor's design... and unless you want to die by overheating in space...no." I slunk further into my end of the small crevice. "Besides, you can't _use_ the Decryptor from the inside."

"Oh."

Another slight pause.

"Where do ya think they be takin' us, huh?"

"I-I don't know, Centauri."

Silence.

"Ooh, you think Ol' Razzy's gonna kill us for bein' gone...?"

"No," I said, turning to face more darkness in the space where I knew Kalvin was currently occupying, "Grim's _only_ gonna _yell_ at me. I'm an innocent victim here. He's going to kill _you_."

That got the Markazian good. "Oooh no..." he half whispered, half groaned in terror.

" _Oooh yea,"_ I chuckled almost heartlessly, "And if we make it back home..."

I felt him flinch as I jabbed him back hard on his shoulder.

"... I'm going to _help_ him kill you."

* * *

 **Chapter 2 END**

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hi!**

 **Wow, it took long to actually get this chapter out! Its a MONSTER, more than 8k words (hopefully to those who follow this story, its enough to satisfy you)**

 **I mean, I just took a good look at when I had published this (April 22, 2016) and now, September 16. Hah, its funny.**

 **I haven't updated RealitySHIFT, I promise that's going to happen soon, Im busy with comic work and classes and well, Its beginning to get overwhelming. My beta, Watsonsaiyanman (I think I got his name right), has the chapters. I don't think he will quit working with me, as he hasn't said anything about it (but did say that he had the chapters on him and has been looking through them when he could) so I hope he will finish it soon, because I need to see what he has corrected and what he will have added for notes so that I can finish it and upload, and continue with checks on chapters 18-20 (20 is epilogue)**

 **Yes, there is a third story in the works, main plots fleshed out and action stuffs with feels.**

 **But I am a starting comic artist, so that work comes first. I will try to keep updating when I can, as its becoming easier to work on comics due to being in my second issue (which I hope will be done soon, its a lot of pages and Im now a co-writer, so I have to add the dialogue and make sure it come out alright with my boss.)**

 **Yea.**

 **I'd like some feedback, maybe a favorite and a follow? Would really help me keep on going ^_^**

 **-A useless Microfluff, Miccah**

 **ps: I think I pulled a Jar Jar in one of Kalvin's lines...XD**


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